


I love you

by eloquent_apollo



Series: Short stories [6]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Bc in case you couldn't tell I really love those, It features a cooking scene, M/M, requests from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:02:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26447515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eloquent_apollo/pseuds/eloquent_apollo
Summary: Five times Andrew and Neil say I love you through their actions, because sometimes words don't have to be said for the implications to be heard.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: Short stories [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835371
Comments: 4
Kudos: 117





	I love you

**Author's Note:**

> For the anon who requested: "I was wondering if you could do an Andreil prompt of them saying I love you but through their actions?" I sure can Anon! I hope you enjoy it
> 
> As per usual, asks and requested fics are unbeta'd, so I am sorry for any mistakes!

1:

It’s a lazy winter morning, with sunlight streaming in and basking the room in soft pink and golden tones. Neil lays curled up to Andrew, their hand’s intertwined with Andrew’s thumb lazily stroking over the back of his hand. The big fluffly blanket covers them with a feeling of safety and content. It would be a perfect morning, if it weren’t for Andrew’s constant coughing waking Neil up from peaceful slumber.

“’Drew?” He whispers as he sits up, reluctantly letting go of his hand.

Andrew turns his hazel eyes on Neil, they’re red and puffy. Neil slowly reaches out to place a hand on his forehead, which Andrew allows. His forehead is warm, and slowly Neil slips out of bed, his feet touching the cold floor. He’s only wearing his pyjama pants, feeling safe enough around Andrew to show the extensive scaring on his chest. He shivers and looks around the room for a sweater, but eventually settles on stealing one of Andrew’s, before walking downstairs. They are all alone in Columbia, so no one is there to help him find a thermometer. Originally, the others had agreed to spend their Christmas break in Columbia, but Katelyn asked Aaron to come to see her parents, Erik paid to fly Nicky out to Germany, and Kevin understood Andrew and Neil wanted a peaceful moment to themselves. He flew out with Matt, Dan and Seth to spend their Christmas in New York. Neil is grateful for the peace and quiet, being alone with Andrew is relaxing and soft. Neil hasn’t been allowed to feel relaxed and soft and safe in so long, that he wishes he could frame this moment and safe it for the rest of his life. When the quiet thought comes that he will have more moments like this in the future, Neil’s heart skips a beat.

Finding the thermometer takes some time, but Neil finds it in the medicine box stashed away in a closet in Nicky’s bedroom. He takes some cough medicine and goes back upstairs to hand Andrew the thermometer. While Andrew takes his own temperature, Neil goes back downstairs to make him chicken soup. The one time he got sick, Nicky made him home made chicken soup, insisting it was the only cure he needed for his cold. While the soup did nothing for his health, the gesture made him feel a lot better. So he looks for a can of chicken soup, because Neil doesn’t trust himself not to burn the kitchen down if he makes his own soup, then reheats it on the stove. He takes the soup and some fresh bread upstairs and gives it to Andrew, who tells him he indeed has a fever. Neil stays with him while he eats, before helping him move the blankets and pillows downstairs, so Andrew can lay on the couch. The whole day long, Neil sits in a chair close to the couch, holding Andrew’s hand in his while they watch cartoons on TV.

2:

Andrew wakes up in the middle of the night to the sound of Neil’s frantic pleading in Russian. Neil is still asleep on the other side of the bed, far away from Andrew’s body as he trashes and begs in foreign tongue. He reaches out and firmly shakes Neil, waking him up. The look in his eyes is distant and his expression is ice cold. Andrew pulls his hand away from him, giving him the space he needs to recollect himself from his nightmare. When Neil’s body begins to shake and his icy façade begins to crack, Andrew is there to hold him up. He places his hand on the back of his neck, firmly pushing down to ground him in the truth that is their dorm.

“Your father is dead, you have a deal with Ichirou and you are free. No one can hurt you, because those who could are either dead or rotting in jail,” Andrew whispers. His voice is never soothing, but the rough words eat their way through Neil’s panic attack.

Neil let’s out a shuddering breath and leans against Andrew, who holds him in his arms. He let’s Neil lean on him, he lets him put all his trust and his worries and his fears on him and Andrew holds them up without budging under the heavy weight of it all. He rubs soothing circles on his calves, something that calms Neil down when he has nightmares about what would have happened if his uncle hadn’t come in to safe him from his father. He rubs soothing circles, letting Neil know that yes, he is here and he is safe. He carefully presses a kiss against the back of his neck, Neil hums contently and turns so they are face to face, letting his forehead rest against Andrew’s. Momentarily things seem alright, it seems like Andrew can go back to sleep, but he notices the way Neil’s body silently aches for a run. Neil keeps shifting, unable to sit still and let himself rest. Andrew knows him well enough to know Neil’s mind is running non-stop with escape plans and exits and the lay out of the building. He only allows Neil to shift around for a little longer, before he gets up and tosses him one of his sweaters, while he puts on his own jogging pants and a tank top. Neil looks confused, but obediently puts on his sweater and follows Andrew’s lead by putting on running shorts. Andrew grabs the keys from the kitchen and quietly the two of them leave the dorm. Neil almost heads for the roof, but Andrew bypasses the stairs leading further up, and instead heads for the elevator. Inside, Neil grabs Andrew’s free hand and Andrew rubs circles with his thumb over the back of his hand. They take the Maserati and Andrew drives off, driving out of town and towards the Charleston’s beaches. It’s so early in the morning there is barely any traffic and they make it in time to watch the sun rise. Neil and Andrew sit down in the sand, their hands lazily intertwined as they stare at the sun. Neil rests his head on Andrew’s shoulder and he can feel him relax against him.

“130%,” Andrew whispers, making Neil smile.

3:

Cooking has never been Neil’s strong suit. On the run he ate whatever he and his mother could find and squatting in abandoned houses meant that they rarely ever had gas or electricity to actually cook. The most Neil can cook is eggs, but that doesn’t stop him from waking up before everybody else on the 4th of November to bake a birthday cake for Andrew. He’s looked up an easy chocolate cake recipe online, talked it through with Matt and had decided it shouldn’t be too hard to make. Sure, their dorm doesn’t have an oven, but Neil is pretty sure he can just make it in a pan. He’s bought the ingredients the night before with Kevin, because Andrew wouldn’t think to look in the bag for sweets since Kevin rarely got them. Kevin had offered to help at first, but Neil couldn’t wake him up and after trying for 10 minutes he gave up out, too worried Kevin’s grumpy insults would wake up Andrew. He looks up the recipe online and starts taking all the ingredients out of the bag of groceries. Neil doesn’t notice, that in the dark, he grabs the salt instead of sugar. Also unbeknownst to Neil, he adds too much cacao powder and the cake refuses to rise in the pan. Instead the outer layers burn to the sides, because Neil forgot to butter them and the inside remains liquid. By the time he finishes, or, when he gives up it’s too late to go out to buy Andrew a proper cake and Neil feels a little upset at having ruined things.

“Morning,” Nicky says cheerfully as he comes out of the bedroom, Andrew and Kevin following after him.

“Hey. Happy birthday, ‘Drew,’ Neil says, stepping in front of the mess in the pan to block it from few.

“It smells like something burned in here!” Nicky complains loudly as he goes to sit on the couch.

Kevin raises an eyebrow and Neil nods, letting him know he indeed ruined the birthday cake. Andrew looks between them, seemingly slowly catching on with what happened. He walks to Neil and gently pulls him away from the ruined birthday cake in a probably equally ruined pan. Andrew says nothing, but then grabs a small plate and gives himself a serving of the cake that really shouldn’t be allowed to be called a cake. Kevin looks on in justified disgust, as Andrew takes a bite. Somehow managing not to throw up. The cacao is bitter, the salt gives it an awful taste and there is a piece of butter that Neil just didn’t manage to mix up with the rest. Andrew eats the whole thing, refusing to let Neil feel bad about the ruined cake.

“Uh, Andrew?” Nicky comes over, looking with mild disgust at the cake. “I don’t think you should eat that…”

“It’s fine, Andrew. You don’t have to eat it,” Neil says.

Andrew puts the plate away, having somehow managed to eat most of it.

“You do know we have a combi-microwave right? It works as an oven too,” Nicky says to Neil.

Andrew rolls his eyes in a semi-fond manner, making Neil smile. In the end Andrew gets food poisoning from the raw eggs, but he still thinks it was worth it seeing Neil smile.

4:

A few weeks after the birthday cake poisoning, Andrew decides he should teach Neil how to cook. Back in the foster homes he often had to cook for himself, so he had always been alright at it. When he moved in with Nicky, though, he learned how to _really_ cook. Nicky cooked with passion and with love, he cooked like he wanted to make sure you knew he cared through flavour alone. It made absolutely no sense, but Andrew felt his cousin’s love through the food he made for him and Aaron. Cooking became fun when he practiced with Nicky, it became less of a thing he _had_ to learn just to survive and more something he did because he liked it. He didn’t cook as often as he liked to anymore at college, but with a bit of a trouble he managed to find a day in the weekend where him and Neil were alone and he could teach him to cook. Neil seemed excited by the idea of spending the afternoon and evening together in the kitchen. Andrew quietly raised the percentage by 10%, before kissing the stupid smirk of Neil’s lips the night prior to their cooking classes.

Now it’s the afternoon and soft music plays on the radio as Andrew rummages through the cabinets for some pasta. It’s is easy food, but it’s Andrew’s favourite to make besides the spätzle’s that Erik taught him to make one Christmas eve in Germany. He’s confident he can teach Neil how to make good pasta in one afternoon and then they can move on to harder food. Neil sits on the counter and watches as Andrew searches for the pasta.

“Come on,” Andrew says as he gestures for Neil to stand next to him.

Andrew shows him how to cut a bell pepper, then gives Neil the other two to do it himself, while he cuts the courgette. He lets Neil cut the chicken, then takes out the spring onions and cuts them using scissors. It’s faster, but Nicky would cry if he saw him do it. He’s making a tuna pasta recipe tonight, because there is no going wrong with tuna. He lets Neil cook the vegetables and tuna while he watches over the pasta and makes sure Neil doesn’t put the fire up too high and burns everything. Neil is surprisingly good at it and he seems to be having fun. _I love you_ , Andrew’s mind supplies. The thought catches him so off guard he stops on his way to the sink to drain the pasta. He looks down at the pan, the words repeating over and over in the back of his mind and _oh_. He does. He does love Neil and that thought it so frightening, he puts the pasta away and leaves. Neil doesn’t follow, understanding that he needs his space. He goes to the roof and smokes, forcing all thoughts of _love_ and _futures_ and _commitment_ out of his brain with every exhale of smoke.

When he comes back, Neil has put two plates on the table, proudly presenting the pasta they had made together and the thoughts come flooding back like water breaking through a dam. The thoughts swivel through his head, drowning him in it. If this is what drowning feels like, Andrew thinks he might just like it.

5:

It’s still early in the morning when Andrew makes it to the court house. Only Kevin and Matt are there, since they are their best men. Andrew asked Aaron as a groomsmen as well, but Neil was content with only having Matt there by his side. They decided that neither of them want to be walked down the isle and all that crap. Their wedding is small, only the foxes, Erik, Wymack, Bee, and Abby are invited to be witness to the moment. Andrew is fine with that, he is only interested in having his family there. Aaron did, however, bring Katelyn as his plus one. Andrew was surprised to realise that he was okay with that.

Andrew and Neil haven’t seen each other since the night before, where Matt insisted it was bad luck to see each other before the wedding or something like that. Kevin had stayed with Andrew instead, the two of them shared some drinks to celebrate and Kevin had seemed happy for his best friend. Andrew was happy too, he couldn’t wait to see Neil again. He waits outside of the small room where they will hold their wedding, in a suit that Kevin picked out for him. He likes the way it looks on him.

Neil shows up not shortly after Andrew, wearing a dark red suit that he knows Allison picked out for him. Everything about it screams expensive, despite their agreement to keep it casual and low budget. Andrew actually smiles a little at the sight of his idiot.

“200%,” He says.

“So little? We’re getting married today,” Neil teases.

 _I love you,_ he thinks. “I hate you,” he says instead.

They go inside. The wedding is small and it fast, Neil and Andrew say their “I do’s” and share a small kiss, still not being big fans of showing too much of affection to others. Nicky cries and when the wedding is over he goes over to hug his cousin, who, for ones, allows it.

After the wedding, they all go out for McDonalds, in their long dresses and suits. They get some stares from others, but Andrew is content with his family and he actually has fun with throwing his straw at Kevin, who gasps and throws his back at him. He catches Neil’s fond smile out of the corner of his eye and he can’t stop the words from forming. He can’t fight them off his lips any longer, so he turns to Neil and for the first time ever, he says it out loud instead of through the actions he has shown for the past 5 years.

“I love you,” he says in Russian. The words are only meant for Neil’s ears, not for those around him. He pretends not to see Nicky’s curious face as Neil’s eyes lit up.

“I love you too, Andrew,” Neil says, as he reaches for him with his hand.

Andrew smiles one of his rare smiles, before taking his burger wrapper with his other hand and throws it at Aaron’s head. All in all, Andrew thinks those past 5 years have been worth it. He has a family, he has friends, he has a husband. More importantly, he has a future and that’s more than he thought he could ever have years ago.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me [Over here on my tumblr](https://eloquent-apollo.tumblr.com/)  
> I still take requests but I am kinda busy with my work and internship so they might take some time. Sorry about that!


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